She supposed he would be at the welcome party tonight.
The rest of the faculty and staff would use the opportunity to welcome him, since he had pled the press of work and declined to have a party of his own. Perhaps it would have been better to wait till then to talk to him . . .
'Chancellor Blades's office.' Chancellor Blades's AI answered the call. It possessed a deliberate, soothing voice, a display pattern of pastel colors.
'Victoria Fraser MacKenzie. Director Blades, please.'
'The director cannot speak in person at this time,' the AI said. 'Would you leave a message, please?'
'Yes. Chancellor, there's been an unfortunate oversight.
J.D. Sauvage's appointment hasn't been formally accepted.
Her office is locked. This is awkward. And I'm concerned that her salary not be delayed.'
'The message has been placed on his register,' the AI said. 'Thank you.'
The voice and the pattern faded.
Victoria swore softly.
Trying to think of some other way of solving J.D.'s problem, Victoria glanced at the research display. Its moving background figures took her in. Soon another display formed before her. Her thoughts began to manipulate its space. She forgot everything else.
Victoria hurried through the courtyard and into the house.
'I'm late,' she said to Satoshi. 'I know it, sorry, but I had to get that new manipulation up and running. I think it's a real breakthrough! I'll be dressed in a minute—damn!'
'Victoria, relax. What's wrong?'
'I want to take Ms. Brown some carnations. It won*t take long to dig them—' She opened the storage cupboard and rummaged around for the rock-foam pot she knew was in there somewhere.
Satoshi came up behind her and put his arms around her.
'I'm all ready. I'll dig them for you.' He was wearing his usual cargo pants and tank top.
'Would you? That would be great.'
'You've got plenty of time. Stephen Thomas just got home, too.'
Victoria took a quick shower and stood in front of her 142 vonda N. Mcintyre
closet for a minute, deciding what to wear. Finally she chose her suede pants and the new lace shirt. She liked the way the lace felt, softly scratchy against her skin.
Stephen Thomas finished dressing just when she did. They returned to the main room together. J.D. had already arrived.
'You all look wonderful!' she said. She looked as if she had tried to dress up, but did not quite know how.
Stephen Thomas wore his turquoise shirt for the first time. Instead of his usual plain gold stud, he wore an earring Satoshi had given him on his last birthday. It twisted up behind his ear and drooped forward again, dangling small emerald crystals all the way to his shoulder. A second loop of crystals branched off from the back and draped across his long blond hair and over his other shoulder.
Satoshi handed Victoria the newly potted carnation, and they set out for the party.
Victoria walked with Stephen Thomas, J.D. with Satoshi.
J.D. evened out the group and made walking on the narrow pathways less awkward, though of course not the same as before, walking with Merit. It surprised Victoria to find herself thinking of before with only a dull ache, instead of a deep hard pain. Maybe she was beginning to heal. Finally.
She shook herself out of that train of thought, knowing how fast the depression could hit her.
Satoshi and J.D. chatted as they walked ahead. J.D. was beginning to relax with her new teammates. Victoria enjoyed talking with her. If someone had told her that discussing the plots of old short stories would be fun, she would not have believed them.
The discussion brought the team members as well as the members of her partnership into closer contact. Victoria had never known of Satoshi's summer herding cattle.
Victoria shifted the flowerpot from one hand to the other.
She stroked the gray-green leaves and separated the blossoms. The scent of carnations rose around her and she smiled. She hoped Sfarfarer's first grandparent in space would like her gift.
Stephen Thomas reached out and took her hand in a companionable way.
'You're pretty excited,' he said.
'More mind reading?'
STARFARERS 14 3
'Hardly necessary.'
'I think I worked out something qualitatively different this afternoon,' Victoria said. 'A real 'a-hah!' experience. I'm ready for a party! I'm so glad Ms. Brown is here—It isn't the same as if Grangrana had agreed to come. But I'm glad she's on board all the same.'
'I don't understand why they picked her,' Stephen Thomas said. 'She's not a colleague. Even if she wasn't past retirement, she was never a scientist. She doesn't have a proper vita. I don't even know what to call her.'
'By her name, probably.'
'You don't need to be sarcastic. I'm just saying I have some doubts about the grandparents program.' Stephen Thomas grimaced.
'I thought you were neutral on the subject of age-mix. 1 didn't realize you were opposed.'
'I can't help it if my personal landscape is different on that subject than yours. And, look, if we get into a bad spot. we'll have to worry about her.'
'Why? How will worrying help? She knows the risks as well as any of us. And she's just as capable of making an informed decision.'
'There's no more excuse for bringing elders up here than for bringing kids.'
'No excuse—! I never heard you talk about Thanthavong or Cherenkov like this, by the way.'
'They're different.'
'Not in terms of their ability to decide whether to Join the expedition.'
'That isn't what I meant. I meant they both have reasons to be up here. They have things to do.'
'Stephen Thomas, next you're going to try to tell me that Nikolai Cherenkov was a hero of the Soviet Union for making scientific discoveries.'
Stephen Thomas blushed.
'I admire him, too,' Victoria said. 'But let's face it. holding the time-in-space record doesn't mean much nowadays.
There must be a couple of hundred people who can measure their experience in decades.'
'Okay, I'll grant that Cherenkov is here because he wants to be and because a lot of us admire him. And maybe because
144 vonda N. Mcintyre
he's the only person in existence who'll be safer on the expedition than they would be anywhere in the solar system.
That doesn't change anything. I still don't see any reason to bring a grandmother up here just because she's a grandmother. Besides, if she's such a great grandmother, why isn't she grandmothering her own grandchildren?''
'Maybe for the same reason we aren't parenting any children,' Victoria said.
'That isn't fair!'
'Sure it is. We chose to put off having children so we could join the expedition. Maybe her grandchildren are grown up. Maybe she decided we needed her more than they did. Maybe she didn't feel needed back on earth at all. Maybe she has a spirit of adventure.'
'What's going to happen if we do meet aliens—'
'When,' Victoria said.
'Whatever, and they see her and say, 'Why in the world did you bring her along?' '
'What would happen when we meet aliens if they didn't see her and they said, 'Where are your elders? How can we talk to people who cut themselves off from their wisest individuals?' Stephen Thomas, your argument has
